A SHADOW.

By Sophia Margaret Hensley

The world to-day is radiant, as I ne'er

Could picture it in wildest dreaming, when

For long, long hours I lay in flowery glen

Or wooded copse, and tried in vain to tear

The glamour from my eyes, and face the glare

And tumult of the busy world of men.

I staked my all, and won! and ne'er again

Can my blest spirit know a heart's despair.

And yet — and yet — why should it be that now,

When all my heart has longed for is at last

Within my grasp, and I should be at rest,

A ghostly Something rising in the glow

Of Love's own fire, an uninvited guest,

Taunts me with just one memory of the past!